Other Views: Helping students

Posted: May 4, 2012 - 12:19am

“In July, the interest rate on certain federal student loans will double, to 6.8 percent. Who could want that? Not President Obama or Mitt Romney ... And not Senate Democrats or House Republicans, who have competing plans for preventing the hike. The only question in Washington seems to be whether the two sides will agree on how to pay for extending the lower rate for a year. We hope they don’t. ... Mr. Obama and his allies in Congress could best demonstrate their commitment by explaining how they will pay for the robust Pell program he favors. Instead, he seems more interested in pumping up a sense of emergency to justify a $6 billion-dollar commitment to a less important cause.”